One Affordable Product Offers Advanced Simulation, Compositing and Network Rendering Capabilities

NEW ORLEANS, Aug. 3, 2009- At SIGGRAPH 2009, Autodesk, Inc. (NASDAQ: ADSK) announced Autodesk Maya 2010 software, which unifies the Autodesk Maya Complete 2009 and Autodesk Maya Unlimited 2009 feature sets with matchmoving, compositing and rendering capabilities into a single affordable offering. Maya 2010 makes it easier for artists, designers and 3D enthusiasts to create compelling entertainment experiences, stylistic designs and evocative digital imagery from photo-real visual effects to believable characters. Maya 2010 is available on Windows, Linux and Mac OS operating systems.

"Artists need more creative capability than ever to attract viewers' attention and engage their emotions in today's fast-moving, prolific world of digital entertainment and design," explained Marc Petit, senior vice president, Autodesk Media & Entertainment. "Maya 2010 is designed to provide that creative capability, making it easier and more affordable for artists to build a cohesive computer graphics (CG) pipeline-integrating 2D and 3D, simulation and animation, rendering and compositing-so that they can create innovative entertainment more efficiently."

High-Performance Compositing
Incorporating features that draw upon the heritage of the Academy Award-winning Autodesk® Flame® visual effects system, Maya Composite brings high-performance, high dynamic range (HDR) compositing to Maya 2010. The comprehensive Maya Composite toolset has tools for keying, tracking, color correction, paint, rotoscoping, warping, advanced filters–motion blur and depth of field, a full 3D compositing environment and support for stereoscopic production pipelines.

Paal Anand, digital post supervisor for Bling Imaging and Maya 2010 beta tester, said, "Producers have become savvier with respect to computer graphics. They expect more work with additional complexity in less time than ever before. Maya 2010 gives us the total package to efficiently handle any challenge, whether it's heavy in tracking, modeling, animating, rendering or compositing. Maya 2010 simplifies the workflow by integrating all the tools you need into a ready-to-go pipeline to get the job done from start to finish." Hollywood-based Bling Imaging creates photo-realistic visual effects, motion graphics and animation for broadcast and motion pictures.

Maya has been used on every Academy Awardwinning movie for Best Visual Effects since 2001 and by all of the top 20 games publishers. In the past decade, Maya has become a creative tool of choice among many of the world's top production companies and has been used to help artists around the world produce unique and innovative entertainment experiences-from independent productions like Chris Landreth's "The Spine" to trend-setting visual effects blockbusters like "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button."

Autodesk MatchMover
Autodesk MatchMover software enables artists to track 3D camera data and motion from videos and film sequences, in order to more easily insert CG elements into a scene. MatchMover combines the ease of automatic tracking with the precise manual control that professional artists demand.

Autodesk Maya 2010 Features

Maya 2010 has all the features of Maya Unlimited 2009 and Maya Complete 2009, including the advanced simulation tools: the Maya Nucleus Unified Simulation Framework, Maya nCloth, Maya nParticles, Maya Fluid Effects, Maya Hair, Maya Fur; in addition to its comprehensive modeling, texturing and animation tools, brush-based 3D technology, an integrated stereoscopic workflow, Toon Shading, rendering, an extensive Maya application programming interface/software development kit and Python and MEL scripting capabilities.

Maya NCloth
Maya nCloth, part of the Maya Nucleus framework, provides the ability to more easily create sophisticated simulations; cloth, flexible, deformable and inflatable materials like rubber, fluidic effects and even sheet metal and rigid body simulations.

New features in Maya 2010 are Maya Composite, a powerful high-dynamic compositing system based on Autodesk Toxik software, which is no longer available as a standalone solution; Autodesk MatchMover advanced 3D tracking and matchmoving system; five mental ray Batch render nodes* and the Autodesk Backburner network render queue manager.

mental ray 3.7+
With five additional mental ray for Maya batch rendering nodes, each Maya seat now enables artists to use other networked computers to render sequences faster. The Backburner network render queue manager is included to help smaller rendering pipelines manage the process; larger facilities can integrate the additional mental ray for Maya nodes with their existing render management software.

"I use Maya Complete in my day-to-day work and have always had my eye on Maya Unlimited," said Ivan Turgeon, Maya visual effects artist and Maya 2010 beta tester, Prairie Fire VE. "Now that Maya Complete Autodesk Subscription customers will receive Maya 2010, which contains the entire Maya Unlimited 2009 feature set plus mental ray Batch rendering capability and Maya Composite, smaller shops like mine will be much more viable."

For more information about the features offered in Autodesk Maya 2010, visit http://www.autodesk.com/maya.

Autodesk Digital Entertainment Creation Suites

Autodesk also announced the Maya 2010 Real-Time Animation Suite with Autodesk MotionBuilder 2010, as well as the Maya 2010 Entertainment Creation Suite with MotionBuilder 2010 and Autodesk Mudbox 2010. The Suites provide artists and production facilities with access to a more complete range of creative tools at more than 35 percent** cost savings, compared to purchasing each product individually. Used together, these products help artists maximize creativity and optimize productivity. "The Suites combine our most popular 3D tools at a lower price, providing greater creative capability and a more cohesive and efficient pipeline-so our customers can equip themselves with the broader, stronger creative capabilities they need to meet the challenges of these uncertain economic times," explained Marc Petit.

Pricing and Availability

Autodesk anticipates that Maya 2010 will be available in August 2009. Maya 2010 will also ship as part of the Autodesk's new Digital Entertainment Creation suites. The Autodesk suggested retail price (SRP) of a license of Maya 2010 will be US$3,495. Upgrades to Maya 2010 from Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited 2009 will be US$895. All Maya Complete and Maya Unlimited customers with current Autodesk Subscription will be entitled to the Maya 2010 release. The Autodesk suggested retail price (SRP) for the Entertainment Creation Suite will be US$4,995. The Autodesk SRP for the Real-time Animation Suite will be US$4,795.

Operating Systems

o The 32-bit version of Maya 2010 will be supported on the Windows Vista Business (SP1), Windows XP Professional (SP2) and Apple Mac OS X 10.5.7 operating systems

o The 64-bit version of Maya 2010 will be supported on the Windows Vista Business (SP1), Windows XP x64 Edition (SP2), Red Hat Enterprise Linux (5.3 WS) and Fedora 8 operating systems

Autodesk Subscription is available for purchase with the product license purchase or upgrade. The Autodesk suggested retail price for Autodesk Subscription is US$595 per year for Maya. Subscription customers have access to up-to-date software, learning resources and an extensive online technical knowledge base. For more information about the Subscription offering for Maya 2010, visit http://www.autodesk.com/mayasubscription.

*Requires a Maya 2010 network license.
** Savings based on USD SRP. International pricing and savings may vary. International pricing may vary.

About Autodesk
Autodesk, Inc, is the world leader in 2D and 3D design software for the manufacturing, building and construction, and media and entertainment markets. Since its introduction of AutoCAD software in 1982, Autodesk has developed the broadest portfolio of state-of-the-art Digital Prototyping solutions to help customers experience their ideas before they are real. Fortune 1000 companies rely on Autodesk for the tools to visualize, simulate and analyze real-world performance early in the design process to save time and money, enhance quality and foster innovation. For additional information about Autodesk, visit http://www.autodesk.com.

Autodesk, AutoCAD, Backburner, MatchMover, Maya, MotionBuilder, Mudbox and Toxik are registered trademarks or trademarks of Autodesk, Inc., in the USA and/or other countries. Academy Award is a registered trademark of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. mental ray is a registered trademark of mental images GmbH licensed for use by Autodesk, Inc. Python is a registered trademark of Python Software Foundation. All other brand names, product names, or trademarks belong to their respective holders. Autodesk reserves the right to alter product offerings and specifications at any time without notice, and is not responsible for typographical or graphical errors that may appear in this document.

© 2009 Autodesk, Inc. All rights reserved.

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